Alright, I had my car die on me the other night. I figured it was the fuel pump right away because I did not here it running. After some check, I determined it was the fuel pump. Went ahead and ordered one. Installed it today and nothing, same situation. THere is power at the pump and a good ground, pump does NOT run though. Any thoughts?

BTW, checked all fuses, relays, and as much of the wiring that I could see. Oh, maybe of use I only measued 8.2 volts at the connector for the pump. Seems low to me, but I think it is enough to make it run. What do you all think?

One more note, the in-tank installation is really not to bad, took most of the day but very staight forward work.

 

92,

Did you test the pump circuit voltage with the pump plugged in? The voltage under a load may drop considerably. A poor connection somewhere in the circuit will allow a reasonably normal voltage to be measured with no load in the circuit, but will not maintain voltage when a load is applied. Your measurement may not be accurate, and the fact that you are only readign about 8 volts is an indication of a poor circuit connection somewhere. That could be from a connector, relay contact, fuse blade, etc.

 

I think you are right. After reading through some manuals tonight I found a few more tests to do. I did not have the pump connected when measuring the voltage. At the time I forgot that the load the pump itself will cause the voltage to drop, probably to near nothing.

My first guess is the relay. I am going to check everything again in the morning. The moral of this to me is simple: DO NOT try and diagnose an electrical problem after dark, in the rain, you'll go to fast and overlook things!!

THanks for your reply.

 

Well went back at it this morning. Did some tests and found the problem was with the socket that goes into the relay. Two of the wires were lose. If you squeezed the relay and socket together a little the fuel pump would come on as it should, if you let off the pressure it would quit. I was able to use a pick to tighten them up a bit to make it run, the fuel pump that is. Soon I will just change out the socket, I guess I need to get that from the dealer.

 

Damn thats gotta suck... I mean doing all that work when it was just a plug.

 

Yeah, but it was the orginal fuel pump with 140000 miles on it. I am now running the 383 and plan to get a blower soon as I save enough so a fuel pump was in the plan somewhere.

Also I really don't think the fuel pump swap was that bad. I mean it is alot of work, but easy work I thought. I started taking it apart at about 8am and finished at about 6pm. However I did have to work on some customers' cars at the same time.

I just put the car in the air and literally removed everything in the rear. Unhooked the brake lines and let the rear axle hang by the LCAs. Next I got one of the other guys in the shop to help me lower the tank. We found by twisting the tank just right, you can very easily remove it and reinstall it. I was expecting much worse from all that I have read on the subject. I think the trick is to have the car on lift and using air tools certainly speeds things up. Oh yeah, and a full can of rust penatrator.